First Sunday Lecture Series

There were no First Sunday Lectures in January, February & March 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

First Sunday Lecture Series

The Commuter Connection: Before There Was No Commuter Rail, There Was Commuter Rail
Sunday, April 3, 2022
3:00-4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Public Library, Meeting Room

Speaker: Todd DeFeo, author of Images of Rail: The Northeast Corridor

For years, the Atlanta region has discussed expanding its public rail system, so imagine a commuter rail line running between Atlanta and Marietta. Once, there were two: the Western & Atlantic Railroad and the lesser-known Atlanta Northern Railway. For more than four decades, Atlanta Northern interurban cars connected downtown Atlanta and downtown Marietta, helping commuters reach their jobs at places like Glover Machine Works and the Bell Bomber Plant. The line closed in 1947, but a few traces of the line remain.

Author Todd DeFeo has written books on the Western & Atlantic, the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville and the Indiana, Alabama & Texas railroads and works on streetcars in Clarksville, Tennessee, and the Northeast Corridor.

Free admission. Light refreshments will be served.

Sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Smyrna, Georgia: An Episodic History

6-week Lecture Series
April 4 - May 9, 2022

Instructor: Dr. William P. Marchione, Ph.D.

Each lecture will address two broad themes, with a half hour devoted to each. The series will begin on Monday, April 4, 2022 and conclude six weeks later on May 16, 2022. The class will meet in the first floor meeting room of the Smyrna Public Library from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Pre-registration is required. Space is limited. RSVP: sreference@smyrnaga.gov.

Topical Outline:

1. Native Society: Assimilation & Expulsion, 1825-1837; Transportation Challenges and Economic Opportunities, 1837-1851. (Monday, April 4, 2022)

2. The Antebellum Economy, 1851-60; The Impact and Legacy of the Civil War, 1861-1880. (Monday, April 11, 2022)

3. Agricultural Diversification, 1880-1905; The Suburbanizing Impulse, 1905-1930. (Monday, April 18, 2022)

4. The Nadir of Race Relations, 1918-38; The Impact of the Depression Era and the New Deal, 1930 to 1942. (Monday, April 25, 2022)

5. The Economic Stimulus of the World War II and Cold War Economies, 1943-70; An Era of Fevered Development, 1970-1985. (Monday, May 9, 2022)

6. The Transformative Years, Smyrna since 1985; Looking Backward and Forward (Monday, May 16, 2022)

Marchione, A Brief History of Smyrna, Georgia (History Press, 2013). The library owns eight circulating copies of this history. Copies are also be available for purchase at the Library’s circulation desk and from on-line booksellers like Amazon. Also, a kindle version of the book can be ordered online.

Material posted on the instructor’s blog, “Local Historian North & South,” which can be accessed via www.wpmarchione.com.

Recommendations will be made from time to time of books and other material housed in the Smyrna Public Library’s Local History Collection.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Double Quick and Bayonets Fixed: The Archaeology of the 1864 Battle of Ruff's Mill
Sunday, May 1, 2022
3:00-4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Public Library, Meeting Room

Speaker: Rita Elliott, The LAMAR Institute

May is Georgia Archaeology Month. Be the first to see the film premiere about the 1864 Battle of Ruff's Mill, a linchpin Civil War battle in the fall of Atlanta. Learn about how archaeologists located the battlefield in Cobb County in a presentation following the film. Ask panelists questions about the film and archaeological project. [The views and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the National Park Service.]

Rita Elliott is the Education Coordinator and a Research Associate with The LAMAR Institute. She holds an M.A. in Maritime History and Underwater Research. She is an archaeologist and outreach specialist with over 30 years of archaeological experience in 14 states, 3 U.S. territories, and several countries.

Free admission. Light refreshments will be served.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library. This lecture is co-sponsored by the Smyrna Historical Society and the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Sarah Freeman Clarke; Cobb County's Renaissance Woman
Sunday, June 5, 2022
3:00-4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Public Library, Meeting Room

Speaker: Dr. William Marchione

This lecture will provide an account of the fascinating life and career of the painter, illustrator, author, New England transcendentalist, and world traveler who, Sarah Freeman Clarke. In 1893, in the latter years of her eventful life, after retiring to Marietta, Ms Clarke founded that city's Clarke Library, the first purpose-built public library established in this area, and the cradle of the Cobb County Library system.

Free admission. Light refreshments will be served.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Artist Alan Vaughn:
Styles & Methods

Sunday, August 7, 2022
3:00-4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Public Library, Meeting Room

Speaker: Alan Vaughn

Alan Vaughn's mosaics are currently on display in Smyrna Library's upper-level gallery. Mr. Vaughn studied at Virginia Tech, Radford University, and Illinois State University. He exhibits widely in numerous one-person, invitational, and juried shows. His paintings and floorcloths have received many awards and are included in hundreds of private and corporate collections. When not in the studio, he serves as an art instructor for colleges and adult art centers. He lives in Atlanta.

Free admission. Light refreshments will be served.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Smyrna History on Wheels

Smyrna History on Wheels
Saturday, September 10, 2022
10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

This Tour is Designed, Written, and Narrated by the Smyrna Historical Society.

This historic driving tour will start at the Aline Wolfe Adult Recreation Center and will take approximately two hours to complete.

Riding in a Smyrna City bus, participants will receive a narrated tour of approximately ten historic Smyrna sites and a brief tour inside the Taylor-Brawner House on Atlanta Road.

Recommended age is 12 and up.
Tickets: $15 each (order online through Smyrna Parks & Recreation)

Participants may choose between the 10:30 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. tours.

A portion of the proceeds benefit Smyrna Museum’s acquisition fund. This event commemorates Smyrna’s sesquicentennial year (1872-2022).

First Sunday Lecture Series

Concord Covered Bridge
Sunday, October 2
3:00-4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Library, Meeting Room
Light refreshments will be served.

Speaker: Philip Ivester, Concord Covered Bridge Historic District Board President

Sunday's talk focuses on the obscure history of the iconic Covered Bridge. Are you curious about its history? Want to see what the bridge looked like a hundred years ago when the mill pond was still intact? Want to know how many cars should go through on each turn?

Smyrna-native Philip Ivester, serves as CEO of Kennesaw-based Energy Management firm. His degree is in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, but he is passionate about Smyrna history, having grown up in the historic Martin Luker Ruff house near the Concord Woolen Mill, Grist Mill, and Covered Bridge. Over the years he has done extensive research into the history of 19th-century communities known as Concord, Millgrove, Nickajack, and Tillman. He is President of the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District and Treasurer of the Smyrna Historical Society.

Sunday Lectures are sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

First Sunday Lecture Series

Johnny Crawford
The Vietnam War: A Black Man’s Perspective

Sunday, October 2, 2022
3:00-4:00 p.m.
Smyrna Public Library, Meeting Room

Speaker: Johnny Crawford, author of Vietnam Black Soldiers Portrait Project

The Vietnam Black Soldier Portrait Project's goal is to produce black & white portraits of Black Vietnam Veterans in 19 states and the District of Columbia. These portraits will represent a visual history of the 275,000 Black men and women who served in combat and supply services in all branches of the United States Military. The states include Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, New York, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Johnny Crawford is the Vietnam Black Soldiers Portrait Project's founder and director and a visual storyteller and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is from Jackson, Georgia. He taught photography at Grady High School, Marietta City Schools Adult Education Program, Clark Atlanta University, University of Georgia, Middle Georgia State University, and Mercer University. He was an award-winning staff photographer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) for over 28 years. He has an M.A. in Photojournalism from Ohio University and degrees in Psychology and Public Relations from Morehouse College.

Free admission. Light refreshments will be served.

The Sunday Lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.